Dems talk of ‘permanent progressive majority’

Echoing Karl Rove's words from four years ago, Democratic pollsters on Friday touted the creation of a “permanent progressive majority.”

“This was not just a change election, but a sea-change election,” Robert Borosage, co-director of the Campaign for America’s Future, said during remarks at the National Press Club. “This is the end of the conservative era.”

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“What you’re seeing in the nation is the emergence of a center-left majority,” Borosage continued. “We are witnessing the creation of a permanent progressive majority.”

Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg agreed, saying that the United States is now “in a progressive period.”

“The conservative movement brought about by the Gingrich revolution has been crushed,” he said.

Greenberg pointed to exit polls conducted by his firm, Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, showing that Democrats hold a significant edge over Republicans on the issues on which most voters based their decision on Election Day.

“Area after area people have tilted toward the progressive policy,” Greenberg said pointing specifically to the economy, the war in Iraq, energy and healthcare. “There has been a change in the way we think about society and the economy, and Democrats have a huge advantage.”

Shortly after the GOP’s triumphant 2004 election, Rove heralded the beginning of a “permanent Republican majority.” After the win, Republicans, at the direction of Rove, began looking for ways to expand the tent, specifically reaching out to black and Hispanic voters.

But the Republican Party’s effort to expand its coalition collapsed not long after Rove’s declaration, as continued bad news from Iraq, a failed response to Hurricane Katrina and charges of corruption on Capitol Hill sunk the GOP’s prospects in 2006, a trend that continued in 2008.

The groups Democrats were successfully able to court in 2008, including Hispanics, single women, Asians and youth voters, are a growing part of a electorate, said Greenberg, while the base voters Republicans have depended on have become a proportionately smaller part of it.

“A lot of Republican voters were brought in with gimmicks,” the pollster said. “They had their base and then would try to pick off specific groups of voters on narrow issues.”

Greenberg insisted meanwhile that those who voted for Obama “share a world view.”

“I would be stunned if there is a disagreement within the Democratic Party about what this election means,” he said.

Still, Democrats are already studying the decline of the GOP even as they celebrate this week’s historic election.

“The Obama administration must undertake a dramatic change agenda,” Greenberg said. “Failure in the real world counts, and that’s a cautionary tale for Democrats.” andy